Paradise Street

Street guide, Portsea

Paradise Street is a residential street in the Flathouse area of northern Portsea. The name, which may seem incongruous in a district shaped by industrial labour and wartime destruction, is of uncertain origin but predates the modern period. Streets named Paradise were relatively common in English towns and often denoted a pleasant or enclosed garden area. The street was part of the dense network of terraced housing that accommodated Portsea's large working population. Like the surrounding streets, it was badly damaged during the Blitz and rebuilt with municipal housing after the war. Paradise Street today is a quiet residential road, somewhat removed from the busier parts of Portsea around The Hard and Queen Street. It connects to Flathouse Road and the surrounding street network. Recent housing investment has brought some improvements to the area, though it remains one of the less prominent streets in the district.